Originally Posted by Maelochs

If that were the case shirtless men and naked people in general would never develop body odor.

What actually creates the odor is the bacteria which feed on the seat, emitting bacteria feces. Such bacteria waste interacts with some plastics (synthetic fibers) to create unpleasant odors while natural fibers tend to absorb more.

A lot of it is reheating old sweat. Sweat left on the body after exercise won't tend to stink in a cool environment, but if the body warms up, the bacteria multiply and the old-sweat odor begins.

I have known people who rode or ran to work and just toweled off, but then worked in climate-controlled environments, and didn't produce any odor. I al so know that I couldn't get away with just wiping off surface sweat when i went form working indoors to going outside to unload trucks and coming back inside, even though I wore cotton clothes ... the old sweat would start cooking and start to stink.

The whole reason I did car-free was to learn about these things. Just an extended science project.